Highly Efficient and Selective N-Alkylation of Amines with Alcohols Catalyzed by in Situ Rehydrated Titanium Hydroxide

Catalytic N-alkylation of amines by alcohols to produce desired amines is an important catalytic reaction in industry. Various noble-metal-based homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts have been reported for this process. The development of cheap non-noble-metal heterogeneous catalysts for the N-alkylation reaction would be highly desirable. Hereby, we propose the N-alkylation of amines by alcohols over a cheap and efficient heterogeneous catalyst-titanium hydroxide. This catalyst provides a selectivity higher than 90% to secondary amines for functionalized aromatic and aliphatic alcohols and amines with high catalytic activity and stability. Mild Bronsted acidity formed by the continuous rehydration of Lewis acidity excludes the side reactions and deactivation by adsorbed species. The mechanism of the reaction involves dehydration of alcohols to ethers with subsequent C-O bond cleavage by amine with the formation of secondary amine and recovery of alcohol.